Republican senators threaten Chuck Hagel filibuster

Some Senate Republicans are prepared to filibuster Chuck Hagel’s nomination to become the next secretary of defense, a rare maneuver to block a Cabinet-level nominee that demonstrates the lingering hostility from GOP senators toward a man who used to serve with them.

Hagel, a former Nebraska GOP senator for a dozen years, still appears likely to eventually garner the votes for Senate confirmation when Republican opponents force Democrats to jump through procedural hoops to move toward a final vote.

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But the filibuster threat — reiterated Monday by Sen. Jim Inhofe, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee — would make Hagel just the third Cabinet nominee in history to require 60 votes to overcome a filibuster on the Senate floor. The other two nominees were President Ronald Reagan’s 1987 choice to head his Commerce Department, C. William Verity, and President George W. Bush’s 2006 choice of Dirk Kempthorne to be secretary of the interior.

Even if Hagel cracks the 60-vote threshold, the GOP will have sent a message to President Barack Obama: Nobody gets a free pass on confirmations.

Never before has a defense secretary nominee required 60 votes on the floor to overcome a filibuster threat, the closest being Bush’s 2006 pick to be an assistant secretary of defense, Peter Flory, according to the Senate’s historical office.

“Yes, I will,” Inhofe said when asked by POLITICO whether he would filibuster Hagel’s nomination, adding that he didn’t know that the move would be a first.

Of course, it’s still possible that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) cut a deal and a Hagel filibuster is avoided — or that Inhofe, or another GOP senator, backs down from their threats.

But the filibuster warnings are the latest twist in a rocky confirmation process that would be likely to weaken the new defense secretary’s relationship with Congress at a key time for the Pentagon. They come after Hagel has endured blistering attacks from Republicans on past statements and positions — on Iran, Israel, Iraq and nuclear arms control — and after a shaky confirmation hearing failed to quell GOP concerns. Republicans have demanded more information on the source of his income after he left office, which Democrats have called unfair.

The criticism started even before Hagel was nominated, and the unusual months-long confirmation battle has been fought with campaign-style media buys, opposition research and op-ed columns. On Tuesday, Republicans are prepared to cede a tactical defeat, letting Hagel pass through the Armed Services Committee on what’s expected to be a partisan vote.

But that doesn’t mean Hagel’s GOP foes, many of whom are his former Senate friends, are giving up the fight.

On Monday, Inhofe made clear his threat to require 60 votes for Hagel to win confirmation, a precedent-setting move certain to be replicated by future Senates.

“Sen. Inhofe is prepared to take necessary measures to ensure there is a 60-vote threshold,” Inhofe spokeswoman Donelle Harder said.

That threat has been echoed by other Senate Republicans, like South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has publicly warned that he’ll place a hold on Hagel’s nomination until the Obama administration provides a more detailed accounting of last year’s deadly attacks in Benghazi.